Eve
by FarewellfromFaith
Summary: She knew this was going to be an odd day. As if the birds flying backwards, candles melting up, and giant fucking portal dropping the woman somewhere in the middle of the forest weren't hint enough. Just another day in the life of Zara Cote.
**_...Eve, Part One; The Time Hopper..._**

* * *

 ** _"Mirror mirror, on the wall... Who's the strongest of them all?"_**

This question and many others raced each other in a sarcastic tone around the Earl's head as he stared, cackling manically at the cracked mirror where the face of his brother once stared back. _"Nea"_ was no more, _"Mana"_ was no more; in their place sat the **Millennium Earl.** And he had no intent of letting the Noah Clan die out again.

* * *

She knew this was going to be an odd day. As if the birds flying backwards, candles melting up, and _giant fucking portal_ dropping the woman somewhere in the middle of the forest weren't hint enough. Just another day in the life of Zara Cote. Dusting herself off, she stood and glanced around her, trying to get a feel for where she'd been dropped. And...

She had no idea where she was. Not the faintest clue.

Sighing, she took one step forward, stumbling when her high heeled shoe instantly sank into the soft dirt of the path she had been spat out on. Zara growled in annoyance and shook her shoe free, then looked for any kind of path that would be better for walking. She saw none. Barefoot it would be, it seemed. It would be slow going in the forest, but it would be even slower if she kept the shoes on... She would choose the lesser of two evils. That was when the dizziness hit. Zara swayed, stepping to the side to better balance, and having her shoe sink into the earth yet again.

She fell, twisting her ankle in the process, as her mind went blank. Or so she thought.

In the darkness that was her mind, she heard a faint whisper. A whisper calling her to the light, to... The third side of... Something? It was too soft to make any sense. But Zara could not refuse; it was too sweet, too kind, too enticing to refuse, that voice was. A woman. A woman lost in the darkness of her mind. Someone she had forgotten in the car crash all those years ago, perhaps? Maybe...

 _ **Come to me,** _ she said. **_Be my light, my sword and shield._**

Did Zara know a thing about fighting? She didn't think so...

That was when the sun filtered through the clouds yet again, hitting the back of her eyelids with a pang. Zara groaned, more in annoyance than anything else, and sat up to glare at the general direction of the sun. Not **at** the sun, mind. She wasn't a _complete_ moron. Sighing, she shook her head a few times to clear it, and pulled herself to unsteady feet. She groaned again as she pulled the knee-high boots off her feet, the twisted ankle giving her a hell of a time, then taking a much more stable step forward, then another. She still had yet to find out where she was going, but that was just part of the adventure!

The blonde woman continued this process, placing one foot in front of the other mindlessly, not really paying attention to anything and praying to whatever was out there to find a town of some kind eventually. It was as she did this mindless ambling that she literally knocked into a taller figure. A solid taller figure. A taller figure that was glaring at her, speaking to her- Wait, what?

"-you have a problem?!" he demanded, his hand on his hip. "Hey! Did you even hear me?! Please tell me you're not deaf!"

Zara snarled and pulled herself to her feet for the third time in half an hour, brushing her jeans off as she spoke, " _No,_ I'm not deaf, and _**no,**_ I did not hear you!"

The man, brushing his own white coat off, though it had no trace of dirt on it, smirked, "Yet you say you're not deaf?" he spat back, then tossed his long black hair over his shoulder.

"Alright, look Mr. Fabulous, I'm having a rather interesting, bad day, can ya not sass me like you're _**flaming?"**_

The man's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he took a few steps closer to the blonde. " _What_ did you just call me?" he said, his voice all but a whisper.

Zara raised a brow, and shot back, "Am I wrong?"

"She's not!" called another male voice from behind Zara, and she whipped around to see two others behind her, wearing similar white coats and pants. She noticed, however, these two had umber skin instead of the healthy tan of the man she'd bumped into. She backed away, not realizing that the last man had stepped closer and then bumping into him again.

His arm wrapped around her shoulders to steady her, then stayed there as she tried to break away. His breath ghosted her ear, and she heard a faint, "So, what's your name, Miss Pretentious?"

Zara squeaked at new nickname, and yanked his arm away. "Yours first," she snarled.

He smirked again, holding up his hands in mock defeat. "Alright, alright. You win. Tyki Mikk, and that," he pointed to the others, "is Sheryl and Wisely Kamelot."

The blonde nodded, moving her boots to her other hand and waving to the other two with a sarcastic expression, and they both raised a brow but waved back. "Zara Cote," she said, then started back in the direction she'd been going before running into Tyki. "Welp, see ya."

She was slightly disappointed when none of them followed her, and when she glanced back a few minutes later, they were gone. Oh well, she supposed? Good riddance to bad rubbish.


End file.
